STEM CELLS
bone marrow and adipose (fat) tissue. Cells from both sources are currently being used to treat racehorses. Bone Marrow-Derived Stem Cells
According to Dr. Scott Hopper, a surgeon at Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital in Lexington, Kentucky, a bone marrow sample is collected relatively easily with the horse “standing under sedation, with a bone marrow needle.” Once collected, the stem cells need to be cultured in a laboratory before they are injected back into the injured horse. It takes approximately two-to-three weeks to culture the cells. Rood and Riddle’s Stem Cell Laboratory indicates that the process generates enough cells for multiple treatments and banking. Considering it can take 6-12 months for a horse to come back from a tendon or ligament injury, this delay may or may not be significant. “I consult Dean Richardson [at the New Bolton Center in Pennsylvania] for my lameness and he uses bone marrow stem cells. It takes a couple of weeks, but we have enough that we can re-inject the cells 60 or 90 days later when we re-scan the horse,” says Bush, who is not concerned with the delay between collecting the bone marrow and treating the horse. Adipose-Derived Stem Cells
In contrast to Bush, proponents of fatderived stem cell therapy believe that time is of the essence when it comes to treating musculoskeletal disorders in horses. “Once an owner or trainer decides to pursue stem cell therapy, they want it done yesterday. With adipose-derived stem cells, the horse can be treated within a few days of making the decision,” says Dr. Faith Hughes, a surgeon at Peterson & Smith Equine Hospital in Ocala, Florida. “This is
Tom Bush (with his Grade 1 winner Get Stormy) has used stem cells in several horses
not the case with bone marrow-derived stem cells.” Adipose-derived stem cells can quickly be harvested from the fat pad located near the tail head. Depending on the company used to process the collected fat sample, either an incision can be made or a plug of fat can be obtained via “liposuction” using a small needle-like instrument. According to Hughes, collecting fat is not difficult; however, people should be aware of the fact that there simply isn’t a lot of fat, even at the tail head, in a fit racehorse. Fortunately, stem cells are very concentrated in fat so only a small sample is needed. Once the fat is collected there are different ways to get the stem cells depending on which company your veterinarian uses. One option is to ship the fat in a sterile container to a commercial laboratory for processing. Dr. Robert Harman, DVM, MPVM,
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CEO and founder of Vet-Stem, Inc. describes how his laboratory processes the cells. “After we receive the shipment in a refrigerated collection box, the laboratory does quality evaluation of the sample and then extracts the stem and regenerative cell population from the fat using enzymes and high-speed spinning. Repeated rinsing of the cell mix to remove the enzymes and any other contaminants is done in addition to quality control evaluations of the cell mix and automated accurate cell counting. Sterile syringes are filled with the appropriate number of cells for each dose needed, which are shipped back immediately (i.e., the same day) to the veterinarian for treating the horse. We believe that a central laboratory is the only way to ensure the quality and safety of the cells for the veterinarian.” A second option is to purchase a kit so the treating veterinarian can collect, process, and activate the cells “in-house”
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